


Leave the Past Behind

by Ana (Anafandom)



Series: Second Chances [14]
Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, F/M, Gen, Team Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-16 20:50:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17552978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anafandom/pseuds/Ana
Summary: The team preparing Earth’s defense need every bit of resource and tech they can get their hands on, and that includes the Pym particles. Hank Pym, however, is still paranoid about protecting his tech. Howard takes it upon himself to talk to him – and end this ridiculous feud between them.





	Leave the Past Behind

**Author's Note:**

> Time for Howard and Hank to meet again.

The preparations for Earth’s defenses against Thanos’s inevitable attack were underway. It reminded Howard uncomfortably of the time just before the US entered World War II with all the strategizing, fear and worry going on. Back then there had been a lot of folks very much against getting into what was considered a European issue. Now, however, they didn’t have that luxury. When Thanos came, it would be _everyone_ ’s problem.

Howard tried not to think about it too much. He’d seen the footage from the first invasion – the one in which Tony had almost been lost in space – and it had been quite terrifying. Those huge ships just plowing over buildings like tissue paper and aliens swarming like flies in the sky. Of course, then it had not been as bad as it could have been, not with a bottleneck portal and only allowed one ship at a time to come through (thank god Loki hadn’t intended to win at all). The invasion had been contained, and so had the destruction left in its wake. Next time it probably wouldn’t be that easy. Loki thought Thanos might come with his whole army – and not through a portal. It might take him a while to get here, but he would arrive eventually because he knew some of the Infinity Stones he sought were here (and possibly to teach the humans who had destroyed part of his previous army a lesson).

That was why a lot of the Accords Panel’s efforts were going into making sure people had a safe place to go if the worst happened. One of those ideas was to build some kind of shield to protect large areas. The Wakandans had offered their technology on that (still trying to get back into the world’s good graces after the fiasco of the Civil War and its aftermath, when they were discovered to have been harboring terrorists in their soil). The problem was how to make Wakanda technology, which was heavily reliant on vibranium, work with other types of materials, since Wakanda was not particularly willing to part with their precious metal. Although as an intellectual problem it was fascinating and challenging, the reality of it – of why it was needed – took most of the fun out of it. It fact, dwelling on it too long made Howard feel nothing but panic and helplessness, hence the avoidance. It was better to focus on what they had and what he could do to contribute; at least that was what his therapist insisted on.

One thing he had been thinking about that might be useful in their preparations was the Pym particles Hank Pym had created. There were a lot of potential applications for that technology, especially combined with a power source like the Arc Reactor. It could be hugely helpful in preserving and transporting equipment and various types of supplies, possibly even whole buildings. Of course, that would mean Pym would have to agree to let other people work with it, and the paranoid old bastard didn’t seem inclined to do that. Howard knew that Hope had already appealed to her father with that suggestion only to be shot down. Hank was willing to cooperate in other ways, devoting some of his company’s resources to defense efforts like SI and others were doing, but not with that. Howard could kind of understand the man’s desire to protect his potentially dangerous technology from falling into the wrong hands, but it really wouldn’t do much good if the whole Earth was destroyed by a crazy alien. The fact that Tony was at the forefront of the Panel’s defense team probably didn’t help either. Although Hank had, at Hope’s insistence, apologized to Tony, it had clearly been more of a token apology than any actual acknowledgment of wrong-doing. Hank was a stubborn and prideful man who would not easily admit to mistakes – and he’d been like that back in the day as well. It had been Janet’s more reasonable and pragmatic influence that made Hank bearable to be around. (Of course, Howard had many faults of his own, but not being able to admit to a mistake had never been one of them.)

That all left them with an important avenue unexplored because of old grudges, and that just wouldn’t do. Protecting the Earth had to trump everything else. Hell, Howard would even be willing to work with that asshole Rogers if it meant keeping everyone safe. (Fortunately, that wasn’t necessary because Rogers had nothing useful to contribute.) If Hope wasn’t enough to convince Hank to get his head out of his ass, then Howard would do it – gladly even.

With that in mind, Howard petitioned the Panel to let Hank in on the secret of his resurrection so that he could try to knock some sense into the old bastard.

After a couple of days of deliberation, the Panel agreed.

Hank – and other CEOs of important companies worldwide – had met with the Panel to discuss plans and strategies, and had signed a bunch of NDAs. The Panel, along with official governments of many of the world’s countries, was still debating when and how to inform the general public about the impending alien threat, so for now NDAs were standard procedures for everything involved in “planetary defense”. One more classified bit of information wouldn’t make Hank suspicious.

The Panel wanted to send Hank to Stark Tower to meet with Howard, but both Howard and Hope vetoed that vehemently. It would be better to use a more neutral location – despite Hank’s “apology”, Howard doubted Hank would want to voluntarily walk into a Stark property again. Some of the Panel members rolled their eyes at that and muttered about cranky old men. Still, they allowed Hope and Howard to choose a place they thought would be more suitable.

Howard suggested the old Avengers Compound, which was now owned by the UN and was being used as a research facility. Although it was the Panel’s hope to use it as training grounds for Earth’s defense teams, at the moment there weren’t enough people on the Avengers to really justify it (plus the current Avengers had some bad associations with that place, even with a change in ownership). A slightly vindictive part of Howard wanted to remind Hank that it was not _Howard_ who was a thief by taking him to the scene of the crime. Hope, however, didn’t think it was a good idea to rub Hank’s face in it like that. She was still struggling to maintain a relationship with her father and keep him from sliding back into his old bitterness.

In the end, a UN building was chosen as neutral ground and the meeting was set. Howard wasn’t exactly nervous; apprehensive, perhaps. He asked Maria to be there too in case he and Hank needed their heads knocked together. As a representative of the Avengers (Hope didn’t count for that) and the Panel’s science team, Bruce would also be there to explain the situation more fully with all the scientific jargon that would, with any luck, help persuade Hank that his technology was necessary. Howard really hoped this wouldn’t be a disaster.

*****

Hank was late – as usual. He had arrived in New York the day before and had had dinner with Hope. She hadn’t said much about it except that it had been “fine”. The Panel had offered to have someone pick Hank up from his hotel and drive him, but Hank had declined. Hope had already texted her father and been told he was on his way, which could mean anything from “10 minutes out” to “just left the hotel”. Howard would be more annoyed if he hadn’t often been late for meetings himself – in his defense, he had been a busy man with a lot of responsibilities to juggle.

Howard, Maria, Hope, Bruce and Derek Mitchell from the Panel’s office were left to wait. Maria was talking to Hope, who was, in fact, quite nervous about this whole thing, in an attempt to keep her distracted. Bruce was talking to Mitchell about bureaucratic details while Howard was engrossed in his StarkPad, checking on some of his projects. One of them was the data they had on the Infinity Stones. He was once again looking over everything they had on the Tesseract and the Mind Stone. Loki and Jarvis had already gone through a great deal of the data Hydra had accumulated from their experiments on the scepter, including all the subjects who had not survived contact with it prior to the Maximoffs. Driving one mad was really the least of what the Stone had done to those poor people (and not all of them had been there voluntarily). It was truly sickening. Still, it might help them figure out how the Stones worked, so they were studying it, however distasteful the whole thing was.

There did seem to be a consistent energy signature for each of the Stones, and something of a pattern for the Stones overall. They still didn’t know how the Arc Reactor had blocked their effects, but Howard was fairly confident they’d figure it out eventually (Loki’s expertise was being quite useful). He only hoped it would be in time to make a difference in the upcoming confrontation.

Hope’s phone beeped with a message that Hank had finally arrived and was on his way up.

“Right. Let’s do this,” Howard said. He and Maria stood up to go wait in an adjoining room until Hank had signed all the papers agreeing to the secrecy.

It was some twenty minutes later that Hope texted him to say they could come back in.

 _Show time_ , he thought. “Shall we?” he asked Maria, offering her his arm.

“Do try to behave, Howard,” she warned, taking his arm nonetheless.

“Of course, dear.” The point of this whole thing was to get Hank to cooperate, not piss him off even more, after all.

They knocked on the door and Mitchell opened it. Hank was sitting next to Hope, the signed documents in front of him. He looked up as they entered and his eyes widened. He stood up abruptly, mouth opening and closing like a gapping fish.

Howard couldn’t help himself; he smirked. “Hello, Hank. Long time no see.” It was the same he’d said to Nick Fury a year ago, only he wasn’t quite as pissed with Hank as he had been with the damn spy.

Maria elbowed him and stepped forward to take a seat in front of Hank. “Hello, Hank. I’m sure you have questions. How about we all sit down so we can talk?”

Howard and Mitchell took their seats, Howard next to his wife and Mitchell on Maria’s other side. Bruce was at the head of the table so he could play mediator, which was a pretty good idea. People tended to be on their best behavior around him to avoid an appearance by the Hulk – even though Howard knew that the Hulk was not a mindless beast and was unlikely to hurt anyone who didn’t have it coming.

Hank stared from one person to the other, still clearly trying to make sense of what was going on.

“Dad, please sit down,” Hope said, gently tugging at Hank’s arm.

Hank shook his arm off. “What’s the meaning of this?” He glared at Howard, then Maria, Bruce, Mitchell and finally, Hope.

Back when Howard had first been resurrected, he had felt kinda sad for Hank having had all these years with his daughter and still being estranged from her. Though Hank was a bit younger than Howard, they were both very much men of their generation, unable to handle their feelings in a positive way and unsure how to express their regard for those they cared about. Both Maria and Janet had understood that about them, and had made certain concessions for it. Their children, however, deserved better. They deserved fathers who showed them they were loved and cherished through both words and deeds. Howard had failed badly at that, leaving his son with the impression that he was a disappointment when nothing could be further from the truth. Hank had also failed, allowing his grief and anger to drive his daughter away. Despite all the time he’d had to get his act together, he hadn’t. Hope didn’t even use his name anymore, which Howard thought was a clear indication of how distant she felt from her father.

While Howard had used his miraculous second chance to sort his shit out and fix his relationship with Tony (and Maria), Hank was still wallowing in bitterness. He look he gave Hope, a look of betrayal and disappointment, as if she was somehow involved in getting his “arch nemesis” back to life, made Howard want to punch the asshole in the face.

“Hank, sit down,” Howard said. “We’ll explain.”

“You’d better.”

It was a struggle not to roll his eyes at such a childish display. _Focus on the big picture, Howard_ , he told himself.

Very reluctantly, Hank sat, still glaring daggers at everyone.

“You have signed an NDA,” Mitchell reminded Hank, gesturing to the documents. “Everything discussed in this room is classified and cannot be spoken of to unauthorized personnel.”

Hank snorted. “Lovely. So you’ve tricked me. I should have known.”

“No one has tricked anyone,” Howard said, getting more annoyed by the second. “We want to discuss using the Pym particles to assist in the Earth’s defense.”

“Ah, so you _do_ want my technology. I knew it.”

This time Howard did roll his eyes. “I don’t want it. Hell, if it were up to me you could keep it locked up like Scrooge McDuck and choke on it, but the future of the _Earth_ is at stake. You might want to put your stubborn pride aside for a moment and think of the greater good for once in your life. In fact, just thinking of someone other than yourself would be a good start. Your daughter, for instance.”

“How dare you…” Hank stood up again, leaning forward so he could loom over Howard, who remained supremely unimpressed.

“Sit the fuck down,” Howard said, still calm, though his patience was wearing thin. He gestured at Bruce. “You don’t want the Hulk to show up, do you?”

“Please sit down, Dr Pym,” Bruce said. He was in no way threatening, but Hank subsided anyway. Yep, bringing Bruce had been an excellent idea. “Now that we’ve all calmed down, we have some information to share. And then we’d like your cooperation, Dr Pym.”

Hank looked like someone who had sucked on a lemon, eyes going from one person to the other as if trying to decide who to direct his outrage at.

Bruce explained how Howard and Maria had been resurrected with the Soul Stone and what they’d been able to learn about it so far.

“So Stark Junior is still messing with things he shouldn’t,” Hank muttered, completely missing the point, as usual.

Howard had just about had enough. “Now listen here, Hank. You can say whatever you want about me, but you leave my son out of it. I swear to god, if I hear one more stupid remark about Tony out of your mouth, I will fucking deck you. You know _nothing_ about Tony, and I’ll be damned if I let you sprout your idiotic prejudice anymore. I mean, it’s already resulted in an airport being destroyed and a good man injured.”

Hank flinched slightly and opened his mouth to reply, but Maria cut him off. “Whatever issue you have with Howard has nothing to do with our son. How would you feel if we treated Hope horribly because you’re behaving like an idiot?” It was generous of her to say he was ‘ _behaving_ like an idiot’ instead of ‘ _being_ an idiot’, which is what Howard would have gone for. Maria had always been more diplomatic, though one should never underestimate her. ‘Team Cap’ had all ended up in tears after she was done with them. No doubt the same would happen to Hank if he kept pushing it. “Now, in case you misheard Bruce’s explanation, Tony had nothing to do with our resurrection, or with any of the Infinity Stones being here. Or Ultron, or anything else some brainless idiots have tried to blame on him.” Her glare made it clear who at least one of those ‘brainless idiots’ was. “We are here today to talk about something else entirely, though. We are here to talk about how your technology might be able to help us with the coming alien threat, which will affect us all.” It was at times like this that Howard remembered why he’d fallen in love with Maria in the first place; she was really something.

“I asked to be the one to speak to you,” Howard added. “It’s time to bury this ridiculous hatchet between us. It’s gone on long enough, don’t you think?” And most of it after Howard was already dead, for god’s sake.

“It’s gone on because you tried to steal my work,” Hank hissed.

“No, I didn’t. Why would I? I had plenty of inventions and money of my own.”

“And you might be careful about throwing words like “thief” around,” Maria remarked. “We all know what _you_ did. Scott Land confessed to it.”

“Dad, please…” Poor Hope looked equal parts embarrassed and irritated.

“Since I know my word isn’t good enough for you,” Howard continued, “I have proof.” He picked up his tablet and tapped a few keys, bringing up the SHIELD/Hydra files Jarvis had found. Of course it had been Hydra within SHIELD (hard to tell the difference between the two sometimes) that had attempted to steal Hank’s tech. When Hank had accused Howard, Hydra had simply seized the opportunity to cover its tracks and drive a wedge between the two inventors by making it _look_ like Howard was hiding something.

It was hard to think about SHIELD without being filled with anger and bitterness. He had believed it at first, believed they were doing a good thing. When had that changed? Or had he just been too stupid from the start? What had Peggy’s role in it been? Had she noticed anything was wrong? Had she decided to look the other way because ‘the ends justified the means’? Or had she been duped just like Howard? He’d never know now, and it grated on him.

They all waited as Hank looked over the information Jarvis had compiled. His expression went from angry to confused to angry again. Howard really couldn’t fault him for walking away from SHIELD (Hydra) after Janet’s death, but he wished the man hadn’t gone on to hold a grudge for 30 years, making a lot of people’s lives miserable in the process, including both their children’s.

“You…” Hank finally started, then faltered. “How do I know this is real?”

It was an effort not to roll his eyes. “It was all in the Info Dump, most of it still available if you dig for it.”

Hank looked back at the tablet as if it had personally offended him, then at Howard. His jaw worked though he said nothing.

After a while, Maria lost her patience. “Now would be a good time to apologize to my husband. You know, for all the false accusations you made against him,” she said in an icy tone.

Howard held in his smirk with difficulty. He would not have bothered to ask for an apology, being content to get what they’d come for, but clearly his wife had other ideas. The look she leveled at Hank was pretty much the same one she gave Tony (or Howard himself) whenever he was being stubborn and she was done putting up with his shit. It was amusing to see it directed at Hank, Howard had to admit.

When Hank still didn’t say anything, Hope tried again. “Dad, please. Enough of this.”

“You knew about this. About… them. And you didn’t tell me.” There was accusation in his voice and Hope cringed.

“You mean like how you knew the truth about what happened to Janet all those years ago and didn’t tell _her_?” Howard snapped. “Unlike you, Hope signed confidentiality papers, just like you just did, and was following orders from her superiors instead of only thinking of herself.” That wasn’t strictly true, the confidentiality had come later, but Hank didn’t need to know that little detail. “You have some nerve accusing her of keeping secrets.”

There was an uncomfortable silence after that. Howard had had quite enough of Hank’s bullshit. Time to put an end to this. “I’d like to talk to Hank alone for a moment,” Howard said. Maria immediately stood up and motioned for the others to follow her.

“Come on, dear,” she told Hope. “Let’s let the men sort out their issues. It has nothing to do with us.”

Hope glared at her father for a moment, then acquiesced. Bruce and Mitchell gave Howard a nod, and departed.

“I’ve learned a lot since coming back to life, you know,” Howard began. “Mostly, I learned a lot about not being an ass. You’ve had 30 years to figure that out and turned out even worse somehow. Get your head out of your ass, Hank.”

“I don’t–”

“You were wrong about me. There’s the proof,” he pointed to the tablet. “Admit it, and stop being a dick.” When Hank remained quiet, Howard continued. “I was wrong about a lot of things too. SHIELD, for one. I put money and effort into it and it ultimately got me killed. Steve fucking Rogers, for another. I used to tell Tony what a great guy Rogers was, and the bastard betrayed me, the world, and tried to kill my son. I was wrong about Stane. Son of a bitch stole from me, from the company, sold out weapons to terrorists and tried to kill Tony. Three fucking times.” Howard paused, taking a deep breath to keep his anger under control. “I was wrong to trust any of them. I was wrong in how I treated my son – hell, even my wife. I fucked up a lot of things, made my son think I didn’t love him. That’s… a huge fucking failure.

“So then what? I got back by a fucking miracle, and I’ve been working my ass off to make things better. Obviously there are things I can’t do anything about, but there are some that I can. So I do my best. I admit I fucked up and try again.

“Now you… You lost your wife, and that’s terrible, but the world didn’t end. You still had your company, your work, your _daughter_. And what did you do? You wallowed. You fucking wallowed and made a fucking mess of your life.” He sighed. “It’s time to end it, Hank. You’ve stewed in misguided anger and misery long enough. Wake the fuck up. Hope is this close” he held his thumb and index finger a millimeter apart “to giving up on you. And no one will blame her if she does. So get your head out of your ass and deal with your shit. There’s still time. Hell, try therapy, maybe. I’ve found it to be very helpful.” Hank snorted at that and Howard sent him a scathing look. “Right. You know exactly what to do with your life. Done a bang up job so far, obviously. Fine, wallow then, but let us work with the particles to save the planet. And before you blow a gasket, neither Tony nor I need to be directly involved in case your ridiculous and unfounded paranoia cannot be cured.”

Howard could see that it was on the tip on Hank’s tongue to continue with the same ‘can’t trust a Stark’ crap, but he held it in. He still looked like he’d found horse manure in the bottom of his shoe, though. As long as he at least _thought_ about what Howard had said, he could make whatever face he wanted.

After a few minutes of awkward silence (again), Hank started fiddling with the tablet. “SHIELD was a piece of crap.” He watched Howard as if in challenge.

“Yes. If I’d known where it was going to end up, I wouldn’t have started it in the first place. Fuckers.”

“They got Janet killed.”

“It’s certainly possible,” Howard agreed. He’d never really known the details of that mission, so he could not say for sure. “Wouldn’t put anything past them. They had _me_ killed, after all. Well, Hydra. Same difference in the end.”

“Aren’t you angry?”

Howard sighed. “Yeah, I’m angry. But I’d rather focus on that fact that I’m here, on the good things. There’s no point raging uselessly. I did enough of that back in the day and it only made life worse for me and everyone around me.”

“And this threat… It’s real?”

“Yes.”

“How do you know? I mean, how can you be sure the 2012 invasion wasn’t a one-off thing?”

“Because Tony saw what was on the other side of that portal. And if that’s not enough for you, the Accords Panel has had confirmation from a difference source. That’s why they’ve stepped up preparations in the last few months. The details have not been released to the public yet, but we have some idea of what’s coming. It’s not good, so we need every advantage we can get, and that includes your technology.”

“How do you know it won’t be misused? That Hydra, or someone else, isn’t just waiting to steal it?”

That was certainly a legitimate concern. “We have as many safeguards in place as possible, but nothing is full-proof. Ultimately, we think the potential benefits outweigh the risks, the risk being the annihilation of the planet.”

“That’s a little overtly dramatic, isn’t it?”

Howard shrugged. “We have information that the guy behind the invasion has destroyed whole worlds before.”

“I… I’ll think about it.”

Howard nodded. If it wasn’t quite what he’d been hoping for, at least it was a start. And Howard had a feeling Hank would be thinking about more than just the Pym particles.

After a short pause, he spoke. “Hope is a great woman. Clearly takes after her mother,” he added with a smirk. Then he sobered. “When we first met her, she asked us a lot of questions about Janet.”

Hank looked away, jaw clenched. “You’ve got a good kid, Hank, don’t fuck it up.”

“I couldn’t…” Hank sighed. All the bluster and posturing went out of him all at once. “I know I wasn’t a good father. I… Janet was the one who… Without her…”

Yes, Howard understood that. He’d left most of the parenting to Maria and Jarvis, after all. If he hadn’t had them, how would he have managed? It would either have given him the kick in the ass he needed to shape up or, more likely, made him even worse. It really didn’t bear thinking about.

“There’s still time,” he repeated. “You can still make things better. I think Hope would like to hear more about her mother, and from someone who knew her a lot better than Maria and I.” Hank nodded almost imperceptively. Howard figured this was the best he was going to get. He stood up. “I’ll leave you to your thoughts. If you want to talk to me, Hope knows how to get in touch. Bruce will tell you what we’ve thought about how to use the particles and answer any other questions you might have.”

Hank stood as well. For a moment they stared at each other, a million words said and unsaid between then. Howard thought about offering a hand shake, but in truth he was still a little too angry to go quite that far. The first move should come from Hank, since he was the one who had started the strife between them in the first place and then held on to it past all reason.

Without another word, Howard walked out of the room.

The others were waiting in the next room looking slightly worried, particularly Hope.

“He said he’ll think about it,” Howard said, and Hope breathed a sigh of relief. “I told him you’d give him more information,” he told Bruce, who nodded and left with Mitchell to finish the meeting.

Hope gave Howard a strained smile. “Thank you for doing this, and I’m sorry about… all that.”

“It’s not your fault, dear,” Maria was quick to reassure her. “You are only responsible for your own actions, not those of others who should really know better.”

Her smile eased. “Yes, of course. Thank you.”

“There might be hope for him yet,” Howard said. “Maybe this time he’ll actually listen and start really thinking about where to go from here. We’ll make our own way back to the Tower. You should stay, talk to your dad.”

Hope nodded.

“So, it went well?” Maria asked once they were outside.

“I told him some hard truths. Whether he’ll accept it remains to be seen.”

“Hopefully seeing evidence of Hydra’s manipulation will help. I’m still going to insist on that apology, though.” Maria had that determined look on her face. Hank really wasn’t going to get out of it. And really, he shouldn’t. After all, Howard didn’t do what Hank had accused him of.

“What do you say we get something to eat before heading back?”

“Sounds wonderful.”

*****

It was nearly a week later when Howard got a text from Hank Pym agreeing to allow the Panel to use the Pym particle for Earth’s defense, though he wanted to be involved in it. After a couple of minutes a second message came through asking for a meeting. Howard agreed immediately.

 _Are you still in New York? Come to the Tower. I’ll tell security to let you in_. Security, in this case, being Friday.

 _Fine_ , was the answer. It was amazing how Hank managed to sound sulky through text. Howard rolled his eyes at it, then told Friday to expect Hank. He also told Maria, Hope, Tony and the Avengers. Bruce offered to mediate again, but Howard told him it wouldn’t be necessary.

“I’m going to be keeping an eye on him, grandpa,” Friday said. “If he tries anything funny he’ll regret it.”

Howard sighed. “Hank is a grumpy old man, Fri, he’s not gonna attack me. And if he does, I can take him.” He’d managed to sucker punch Fury, after all, he wasn’t defenseless.

“Okay, but still… I’ll be watching.”

“Thanks.”

Sometimes it was hard to hard to believe Friday wasn’t a flesh and blood person with how human she sounded. Howard really couldn’t wait for Tony to finish her body so he could interact with her more directly.

Hank showed up a couple of days later early in the afternoon. Howard was in the lab with Tony, Bruce and Loki when Friday announced Hank’s presence.

“You sure you don’t want any of us there, dad?”

“Yeah, Tony. It’ll be fine.” He turned to one of the lab cameras. “Direct him to the apartment, Friday. And let Maria know Hank is here.”

Friday opened the elevator door and Hank stepped out looking as sullen as he usually did.

“Hello, Hank. Please come in,” Maria said, completely ignoring his sourness in favor of being a good hostess.

“Maria,” Hank gritted out. Then he turned to Howard. “Howard.” His tone wasn’t exactly friendly, but it wasn’t entirely hostile either. Grudging would be the best description, Howard thought.

“Hank. I honestly didn’t think you’d show up.” It was only partly true. He suspected Hank wouldn’t be able to stay away for long, though he didn’t know if their second meeting would be better or worse than the first.

“Does anyone want some coffee?” Maria asked.

“No, I’m good, honey. I had some in the lab earlier.”

She nodded and looked at Hank. “Hank?”

“No, thanks.”

“Then I’ll leave you to it. Behave.” She glared at both of them, then kissed Howard’s cheek before leaving.

Howard gestured for the couch and waited until Hank was seated to drop into the armchair.

“So, you’ll cooperate with Earth’s defense?”

“Yes. But I want to be involved in everything that includes the particles.”

“I’m sure it won’t be a problem. The Panel is very aware that such technology could be misused, and no one wants any more internal problems, not when we have a potential alien invasion to worry about.”

“Good.”

“I’ll have them send over the proposals we’ve had so far. I’m sure you’ll be able to say what looks more promising and feasible.” Hank narrowed his eyes, prompting Howard to roll his. “It’s your invention. It doesn’t take a genius to see that you’re the best qualified to give an opinion on its applications.”

“You seem to have given it a lot of thought.” His tone was suspicious and Howard sighed.

“Yes, I have. I’ve been thinking of anything and everything that could help, since I don’t want the planet destroyed and everyone dead. Assuming we all survive, you can take your particles back, as far as I’m concerned.” He shrugged. “Really, Hank, I’m done with this little spat of ours.”

They said nothing for a while. Howard wondered why Hank had asked for this meeting, whether he was willing to let go of his old grudge after all.

“I… Hydra made it seem as if you’d tried to steal my research,” Hank said at last.

“Yeah, I guess they did.” _And you fell for it_ went unsaid. “You never really liked me, so I suppose you jumped at the chance to justify it by believing me a thief.” It was an uncomfortable parallel to what had happened with Tony and the old Avengers. The dislike was there from the start, and everything he did was confirmation in the others’ eyes that he was as horrible as they believed, whether it made sense or not.

“They… I was tricked.”

Howard shook his head. “You _wanted_ to believe it. They only did that because you _already_ suspected me. They build on what was already there.” Howard wanted to be angry, but right now all he felt was tired. It wasn’t just Hank. There had been plenty of other people ready to think the worst of him at any given moment (hell, even Peggy sometimes). Because he was rich, therefore he must be a selfish asshole. Because he wasn’t the right kind of rich (self-made instead of being born into money), so he could never truly belong with the upper class. Because he was too smart and must always be plotting something behind people’s backs. The truth was that he had always been seen with suspicion for one reason or another, and it was exhausting. No wonder he had been a mess back then…

Again, Hank said nothing and Howard realized there was no point to this. Hank wasn’t going to admit anything, he wasn’t going to apologize.

“Well, have a nice life, Hank. And for god’s sake, make things right with your daughter. She deserves better.” He stood up, feeling every one of his 70 years. “Friday will see you out.”

“What, that’s it?” Hank asked, standing as well. There was a pinched look in his eyes.

“What more do you want? If you have something to say, say it. Otherwise, I have better things to do. I’ve moved on, Hank. All I want is to make the planet safe, and be with my family.” He had his wife, his son, his grandchildren (unconventional as they might be), and even some friends. He didn’t need Hank’s issues and unfounded distrust. He might have thought he had to put up with all that shit in the past, because he couldn’t see how to escape it, but it was different now. He _had_ escaped all of that – the crushing loneliness, the suspicion from all sides, the constant doubts that he was doing the right thing, the never-ending corporate and political games, the self-loathing… All of that was behind him now, and it was incredibly freeing. If Hank wanted to keep clinging to the past, it was his problem. Howard was _done_.

“I… Hope… She…”

“She’s a good woman, Hank. You should be proud.”

“I am.”

“Then tell her. Show her. Do right by her. Do better.”

Hank looked away. “I don’t know how,” he murmured, almost too low to hear.

Howard turned back to Hank and now all he saw was a sad old man, lost and lonely. Hank had lost his way when Janet died, and had never really found it again.

“I can’t help you with that, Hank. You have to figure it out for yourself. My advice, however, would be to begin by acknowledging where you went wrong and admitting it. To yourself and to others. You can’t start over if you’re still holding on to the past.”

Rogers had done that, and look where it had gotten him. And Hank hadn’t fared much better. Sure, he wasn’t a convicted criminal (convicted being the operative word there), but he had messed up his life and personal relationships all the same.

“Start over,” Hank repeated in a low voice, as if talking to himself. Then he took a deep breath, looked Howard straight in the eye and offered a hand. “Hi, I’m Hank Pym.”

Howard’s lips pulled in a smile. It wasn’t quite an apology, but it was a start. Baby steps, he told himself, accepting the handshake. “Howard Stark.”

Might as well see how things would go.

**Author's Note:**

> This didn't go quite the way I initially thought. Hank just refused to say much, so it's rather more open-ended then originally intended. I might add a second chapter with his POV later, but for now this is it. Hope you liked it.


End file.
